Bowling-alley.



Patented Apr. I7, I900,

.L m T m c M N lb 2 U w 7 4 6 m N BOWLING ALLEY.

(Application filed Oct. 25, 1899.)

(No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT @FFICE.

JACOB N. MCINTIRE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

BOWLING-ALLEY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 647,902, dated April 17, 1906.

Application filed October 25, 1899. Serial No. 734,714, (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, J AOOB N. MCINTIRE, of the borough of Manhattan, city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Bowling-Alleys; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, refereuce being had to the accom pan ying drawings, forming part of this specification.

My invention relates to that genus of ball return-ways for bowling-alleys in which the balls which roll home on a track from the pit end to the players end of the alley are discharged or'delivered initially onto the rear end (instead of onto the forward end) of what is called the terminal or rack on which the returned balls assemble for reuse by the players. In this type or genus of ball return-ways as heretofore made there has been no provision for automatically returning the series of small balls or the pony balls onto the lower or supplemental rack on which these small balls are generally kept, these balls in the use of this kind of returnway being returned by way of the ball'gutters of the alleys and placed by hand, on arrival at the players end of the alley, on the said supplemental ball-rack; and one object of my invention is to provide means for returning these small balls from the pit end of the alley and automatically delivering or placing them on said supplemental rack.

As in different parts of the country bowling-alleys are used mostly for different kinds of gamessuch, for instance, as tenpins, candle-pins, cocked hat, &c.and these several games requiring or rendering most convenient somewhat different constructions of ball-racks or terminals, another object of my.

invention is to provide for use a construction of ball return-way in which, where it may be desirable or necessary, all the balls (from the largest to the smallest) may be sent home from the pit end on the usual track of that type of return-wayabove referred to and delivered or discharged automatically onto the rear end of a single terminal or ball-receptacle.

In various species of ball return-ways of the type alluded to it has been found that the larger balls will necessarily bedelivered onto the terminal or ball rack at a somewhat to have the different sizes delivered onto the terminal or terminals at as nearly as possible the same rate of speed.

To the ends and objects above mentioned my invention may be said to consist of the novel structural features (of that type of return-way alluded to) which will be found hereinafter fully described and which will be most particularly pointed out in the claims of this specification.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use ball return-ways involving either in part or in Whole the several novel featuresof my invention in either the precise forms herein shown and described (as to one or allof said features) or under some modification thereof, I will now proceed to describe my invention more particularly by reference to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification and in which I have shown the several features of my invention each carried out in that precise form in which I have so far successfully practiced it, although, of course, as to each of said features modifications may be made in the constructions shown without departing from my invention, providing the novel principles of construction and mode of operation of each of said features be retained.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a ball return-way made according to my invention and illustrating particularly those features thereof which relate to means for automatically discharging or delivering the larger series of balls onto an upper and the smaller series of balls onto a lower terminal or ball-rack and for also regulating the is, the larger series and the smaller seriesare delivered onto their respective terminals or ball-racks, the middle portion, however, of the long and nearly-horizontal portion of the ball-track being broken out or removed speeds at which the two series of ballsthat and the end portions of the return-way moved toward ;each other for the purpose of ;.showing the novel construction of "the whole device within the space permissible and at the same time on a sufficiently large scale to plainly illustrate the details of construction. Fig. 2 is a similar Viewof one of myimproved return-ways made in like manner with the middle portion of the ball-track removedand the end portions of the return-way moved to- Ward each other and illustrating 'a form or feature of .myinvention in which allthe balls (both large and small) are automatically re turned onto'the rear end'of a single terminal or ball-rack in the same manner as the smaller balls only are returned onto the lower rack .at'niEig- 1. Fig. 3 isia detailed partial stop yiew made .zon a somewhatl enlarged 5 scale tandillustrating. particularly a, switch devi-ce which isqemployed in the forms ofreturnway gshowniat Figs, 11 and 2, .andwhich; also opere ates asabrakedevice for-controllingor regu ;1atiug in .a, measure the.speeds of-the balls of differentssizes. Fig, 4is adetail verticalsec tion a't the line aim of Fig.'lo;looking.in; the .-,d irection.indicated bythe, arrow'in, saidF ig; 1. Fig. 5 is a partial side viewshowing'a modification, of. the ball-delivering :de'viceS seen at, Fig, 2.

3o illustrating another modification of.m y invene .tion. In the se veral. figures the. same parts will loeiou-nd, always designated by lth'e s'ame let.

ters of reference. 7

gReferring, now; moreparticularly -to.;higs.j 1,;3,= and-.4 -of the drawings, it will ,.be seen "that theball track .o f;the;return-way starts at alpoint vertically overt-he rear of the ,pitandat..atprpper .eleyation anddescending thence" lto theiproper,extent.and with the requisite v:obliquity, as seenat a, approaches.-towithina fewinches say. about six.of :the'fioor, from v"which pointit runsttowardthe players end .ofifthe,alley witha slight; descent, as seen at b,'.=whence it runslev ell at b beneath the ,ter minaLuntil at the vicinity of, the rearmost. chalf ofsthe ballrack or terminal it begins to run upwardly in a curved direction, as seen ;at v c-,-,'and extending thence upwardlyand-f orwardly, as 1 at d, constitutes the curved lift- ,ingand. discharging. eudportion of the track peculiar to that genus or type of return-way tojwhich my present invention relates and F fro which the vballs pass onto the ball-racks tortterminalst Of thesethereare two,;the up- .perterminal: e, on which the series-of larger ';-ba1ls .s ayfrom eight and six tenths inches tdiameter down to six inchesdiameter in- ;clusilve,are to beassembled, and the lower ,terminal f, onto v which are delivered the seiries of; .smallerballs running f rom five anda ,.=half down to. four inches diametemincl isive.

: 'l .he., ser.ies. of. largerballs, however, it.wi ll be :understoodmoll continuously rearwardly and .then'upwardly,and'finally in a forward di- 'rection in .contactalwayswith the curved portion"of.the.ball-track b c d, (aspecul-iar to Fig. 6 ,is a partial-side view ments relate,) while the series of smaller balls,

travel only partially up in contact with the curved portion 0 d of said track, they having an insufficient amount ofinertia or impetus to travel clear up and get onto the terminal e,.and. after havingzascended to a point sub- 'stantially such as illustrated, for instance, by .the small. dotted in five-inch ball seen at Fig. 1 fall back or descend by gravity, and trav eling on the curved portion of the track on which they made their ascentcome onto the curvedswitch device or hinged continuation g of:the lower ball-rack f,and roll thence onto and forwardly along on said ball-rack, as I have illustrated at Fig. 1,-in, whjich,p.,a fiveinch ballhaving, ascendedtowthe; position ,shown in dotted l in es;at the} lef thand. side of ,the; figure. has 1: descended: Onto. theiphinged switch g as illustrated by the five-inch; .ball

it? circle thereon shownin fulllines,.and;rolling thence forWardlyinto ;the, tpos-itiom indi- -;cated by another f ull-l-i n'e circledrawntonthe rack. f passesfinallyforward .on-,said rack -(whi.ch,, asusual, .is slightly-iuclinedl'forthe purpose)"until.it arrives, at the positiondndirated by the dotted circle ofi afive-inch ball at :theextreme right-hand end Of bhe said-rack. The switch device 1l,-, which is; hinged at the point 8 to ltheu-rearmost ends, of ;the -,,bars or tubes constituting the: rack f, is made, preferably, ofi aboutgthe shape;shown, and;.1with i s rea -most end rest ng upo ra suitableistop in the -curved portion of the, main track of thereturn-wayis free to rise and. fallnmoving, about its point .of v articulation and, ,as illustratedat F-ig; 1, (in-whichsaid switch is shown in its .lowermostor normalpositionin flllli lines-and in its uppermost; position in :dotted lines): whentany oneof-thefballs of the largerseries as, for instance,- the eightand sizr tenths-inch; ball shown; in full-line circle immediately be leath'the rack f comes rolling home in ascending-the curved portion c d; of the .return-way it simply lifts 0rpushes upwardly; said switch giinto theH-dotted-line position and passes as isual, fromthe curved pper, end of the return-way Onto the upper ball-rack e.in the manner illustrated by the eight-inch ball, full circle, showninvposition on said ball-rack,;and;thence rolls forwardly into the positionillustrated by the eight-inch zball, dotted circle, seen atthe extreme righthand end ofsaid ball-rack, and it willtalso ,be understood that when any one-of theseries of smaller ballscomes rollinghomee-eas, for instance,-a five inch, bal1,.such as shown by the full-line circleto the right of, the ter- :minal-devicein Fig. l- -said ball in like-man- ;n er inascendingv. the curved ,portion', otfithe return-way c d, without suificient impetus,

however, to follow com pletely'in the-wake of switch to allow the latter to drop'back to its normal position will then gravitate or roll downward on the said return-way and passing thence onto the said switch device will roll thence, as heretofore explained and as illustrated, onto the lower ball-track f. It is desirable, of course, to have this switch device made so that the balls, especially the smaller ones, will not have to exert much force, (and hence be retarded in their upward course of travel,) while at the same time it is desirable to have this switch operate as a retarding device or brake on the balls of the larger series, which by reason of their greater size and inertia may tend to travel too fast at the time of their deliverance from the portion 01 of the return-way onto the upper ball-track. Therefore I propose to make the hinged joint of this switch and brake dewell-known forms of spring-hinges used on doors to automatically close or open them and to have it arranged so that very little torsional action of the spring will come into play until one of the smaller balls of the larger series lifts the free end of the said device to a given height or point and so that the successively-larger balls of said series in lifting the free end of said switch device still higher will respectively have still greater degrees of braking or retarding force applied to them. By this means and in this way I am enabled to automatically regulate the final speed of the balls of different sizes, especially of the larger series, so that they will not travel too fast in passing onto the upper terminal 6.

The precise detailed construction or form of the torsional-spring articulation is not important to this feature of my invention so long as some form be employed which will be simple, durable, and effective for the purpose explained, and at Fig. 3 I have illustrated one form of such spring articulation in which twin helical springs t are mounted on the pivotal stud s, with one end of each connected with the root end of one of the arms of switch 9 and the other end of each connected with a central integral lug or collar u of said stud, all in such manner that loosening the securing-nut w of said stud, giving the latter a turn in one or the other direction, and then resecuring it in position the springs may be adjusted to act differently, as circumstances may require.

Referring now particularly to Fig. 2 of the drawings, it will be seen that in thesame manner as explained just'now with reference to Fig. 1 the balls of the different series when placed on the highermost pit end of the return-way track willsuddenly travel obliquely downward on the part a, then for a long distance on the slightly-descending portion Z) until they arrive at the vicinity of the terminal device, when they will ascend rearwardly and upwardly the curved portion 0 of the returnway, and after having lifted the brake and switch device 9 to diflerent degrees, as illustrated by dotted lines at said figure, theywill continue their ascent, but on an upwardly and rearwardly curved continuation m of the said return-way, to a point sufficiently high to permit the automatic closing or fall of the switch device into its normal position, (shown in full lines,) when the balls will then doscend or roll back downwardly on said portion m of the return-way, and coming onto the fallen switch g will roll forwardly thereon, and from thence onto the single terminal e illustrated in this case, on which terminal they will automatically assemble, as illus trated by a series of circles illustrating, respectively, an eight-and-siX-tenths-inch ball, a four-and-a-half-inch ball, a five-inch ball, and aneight-inch ball, which said balls are also shown, respectively, by the full-line circles at the uppermost rear portion of the figure, by the dotted circle immediately below said full-line circle, by the full-line circle of a four-and-a-half-inch ball drawn on the return-way about the middle of the terminal part ofthe device, the full-line circle of a five-inch ball resting on the rearmost portion 'of the slightly-inclined part of the returnway, and the full-line circle of an eight-inch ball shown placed on the highermost pit end portion of the ball-track.

I have shown the return-way illustrated at Fig. 2 as having its pit end at the same elevation as that of the return-way, seen at Fig. 1, but set farther forward, so that it is vertically over the front (instead of the rear) edge of the pit. Both arrangements of the pit end of the return-way are adopted by different alley-builders and either one is practicable but I prefer the arrangement shown at Fig. 2 as the better one of the two.

It will be seen by a comparison of Figs. 1 and 2 that the single ball-track c of the lastmentioned figure is located considerably lower than the upper terminal 6 at Fig. 1, and it will be understood that in that form of my improved return-way shown at said Fig. 2

which is adapted for the returning onto and assemblage on a single terminal of the balls of all sizes, it is necessary to have this terminal placed very much lower in order that the smallest ball of the whole series will come completely home on the return-way or will travel far enough upon the sort of ogee portion 0 m of the track to lift and pass far enough beyond the movable end of the switch device g to properly get onto said switch and thence onto the said terminal 6, and it will also be understood that in this form of returnway adapted to the purpose mentioned the balls of the larger series are likely to travel so far upon the portions (3 m of the returnway as to retrace their course or descend again onto the switch g and thence onto the terminal 6 at too great a rate of speed if their home-coming velocity be not in some manner checked before their descent onto the said switch device, and hence in this form of my improved return-way it is all important to provide some means for retarding the course ing an upwardly-curved portion in rear of a terminal, or ball-rack, of a terminal adapted to hold balls delivered onto it; and a switch device, hinged to the rearmost end of said terminal; the whole arranged and operating so that a ball rolling on the said ball-track will pass beneath said hinged switch as specified, and after the latter shall have'resumed its normal position will gravitate onto it and be delivered by it onto the rearmost end of said terminal, substantially as set forth.

4:. In combination with a ball-track on which the balls travel hoineward and which has its rearmost end curved upwardly; a terminal, or rack, adapted to the reception and retention thereon of balls; and a switch device for effectuating the delivery onto said terminal of balls which travel up on the rear curved portion of said ball-track and then gravitate backward, as specified, means for causing said switch device to operate as a brake to retard the velocity of the larger balls and cause them to pass onto the terminal at the desired low rates of speed, respectively, as set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 19th day of October, 1899.

J. N. MGINTIRE. In presence of R. W. DRUMMOND,

O. B. ACKERLY. 

